Women, Dreaming

"Mehar dreams of freedom and a life with her children. Asiya dreams of her daughter's happiness. Sajida dreams of becoming a doctor. Subaida dreams of the day when her family will become free of woes. Parveen dreams of a little independence, a little space for herself in the world. Mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, neighbours ... In this tiny Muslim village in Tamil Nadu, the lives of these women are sustained by the faith they have in themselves and in each other, and the everyday compromises they make. Salma's storytelling -- crystalline in its simplicity, patient in its unravelling -- enters this interior world of women, held together by love, demarcated by religion and comforted by the courage in dreaming of better futures."--Dust jacket.